JOBS ARTICLE NYTIMES

Widespread joblessness among men is particularly devastating for the economy and many families, because men tend to earn more than women and to have jobs offering health insurance.

Equally important, the Obama administration must flesh out its commitment to ensure that economic recovery does not leave middle-class and low-income families behind.

But that is cold comfort for the tens of millions of working men and women for whom conditions are bleak and getting bleaker, and for the millions more who are destined to lose their jobs — or to have their hours and compensation cut — in the months and years to come.

The House has passed a bare-bones extension of benefits; the Senate has a better bill, covering more long-term unemployed workers, and should pass it first thing this week.

If successful, ambitious goals like health care reform and energy legislation may generate jobs, but officials have not persuasively linked them to job growth.

Equally important, the Obama administration must flesh out its commitment to ensure that economic recovery does not leave middle-class and low-income families behind.

Congress must enact emergency unemployment benefits without delay.